Wouldst thou then no more take pleasure
In the meshes,
Those thee Amor laid?
Where we, too, when once we're captured,
At our leisure,
Joy and love in bonds have plied.

Da Capo.

5. Recit. (Diana, Endymion)

(Diana)
I love thee even still!
But yet
Today hath such a day appeared
Which I before all else
Must with my loving kiss
Give dutiful attendance.
Most dearly loved August,
The Saxons' joy,
May in most welcome fortune's favor
His lofty nameday feast now witness.

(Endymion)
Then grant me this,
Diana, that I may at once
Be thy companion
And, too, an off'ring here may kindle.

I, who am wont a god
Amongst these fields to be,
I'll now lay down my shepherd's staff,
To Friederich Augustus' scepter yield,
For this illustrious Pan his land so happy maketh,
That wood and field and all are live with laughter!

7. Aria (Pan)

A prince is his own country's Pan!
Just as the body lacking spirit
No life nor animation hath,
So is that land a deadman's hollow
Which lacking head and prince exists
And thus its finest part doth miss.

8. Recit. (Pales)

My off'ring shall most surely not
The last one be.
No, no!
I will before thy feet now lay it;
For while the whole wide land with "Vivat" rings,
Shall, too, this lovely field,
Thee, mighty hero, prince and king,
To praise, itself be stirring.(3)

9. Aria (Pales)

Sheep may ever graze securely
Where a worthy shepherd wakes.
Where the rulers well are ruling,
May one rest and peace discover
And what nations blissful makes!

Da Capo.

10. Recit. (Diana)

Then join the song,
And to the day's delight perfection bring!

11. Chorus (All Four)

Live, O sun of this our earth now,
While Diana doth by night
On the tow'r of heaven watch,
While the woodlands change with verdure,
Live, O sun of this our earth now.

12. Aria (Diana, Endymion)

Ye bright rays of gladness
Now banish all sadness,
Redouble your glances in ages forthcoming!
The father of Saxons,
Augustus shall live long, Augustus must flourish.

Ye pastures and meadows,
Which sweetly look on here,
Rise, sing ye / shout ye / with us:
Long life to August in blessing and peace.

15. Chorus

Ye fairest of glances, ye hours delighted,
With you be good fortune forever united.
Return here, but always in lovelier light,
So that for you ever the purple stay bright,
So that we with pleasure
Our sacrifice offer.

Da Capo.

1. Pales was the goddess or god of shepherds, honored on April 21
in the Parilia or Palilia, the feast of the founding of Rome (cf. Ovid,
Fasti 4. 721ff.). The ceremony included lustration of the herds and
bonfires through which participants jumped three times (cf. the last three
lines of 5: zünde and Flammen). In Movement 5 of the present
version hohes Nahmens Fest replaces Franck's Ursprungsfest 'foundation
feast,' an apparent reference to the association of Pales with the foundation
of Rome. While such authors as Vergil, very familiar to baroque poets,
refer to Pales as feminine, Servius' note on Vergil's Georgics 3. 1, says
that Varro (1st cent. B. C) treated Pales as masculine. Pales is
masculine also in Arnobius (3rd cent. A. D) and Martianus Capella (5th
cent.). While Franck makes Pales feminine in BWV 208 and Bach assigns
the role to a soprano, a textual change in 8 leaves the gender inexplicit
in the present version. The voice parts are not indicated in Bach's
manuscript of the text (there is no music). 13 and 14 are assigned
to Pan and Pales, respectively, the reverse of the assignment in BWV 208.

3. There are curious changes in the text of this movement:
the gender of Pales is suppressed, and there is an only partially effective
attempt to make Pales' point clearer. In the version of 1713
Pales means that her gift will not be the final one of the festival, for
her gift will be to inspire the fields to add their own gift of praise
for Christian. Yet the following aria hardly has the character of
such an exhortation. Only in 13 does Pales seem to prepare to make
good on her promise, and then it is actually Pan who in 14 commands the
fields to cry "Vivat" in praise of Christian. In this revision, however,
Pales predicts that her (or his) gift will not be the last because the
field will stir itself to make an addition offering. But there still
remains a slight inconsistency, for it is Pales who now in 14, apparently
not relying on the spontaneity of the fields, summons the fields directly
to join in the congratulations.